


Love Your Brothers

by leviiackermanns



Series: Batfam oneshots [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Love, Damian Wayne Needs a Hug, Damian Wayne-centric, M/M, Minor Tim Drake/Jason Todd, idk what this is im so sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-18
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-11-23 19:22:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18156008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leviiackermanns/pseuds/leviiackermanns
Summary: Damian just really loves his brothers. That's it.





	Love Your Brothers

**Author's Note:**

> if you squint at the right angle this could be a Tim/Jason/Damian fic. I Also had a dream about writing this so?
> 
> Also sorry.

Throughout his life Damian has come to realise a few things.

Damian knows that the way he grew up was wrong. He had never known what it was like to have a mother who was affectionate towards him. Damian didn’t doubt that his mother loved him in her own way, but in the place of affection that he should have known, all Damian knew was pain.

Damian grew up in the League of Assassins and that was his whole world at one point. It was all knew and all he was going to be. Then, that changed and Damian was sent to live with his father at the age of ten, became Robin, then he had another thing to live for.

Damian knows he has come a long way from the snot nosed brat, the unapologetic assassin,  _ the killer,  _ that he once was only seven years ago. Sometimes there are times that he would like recognition about how much he has changed in all those years. Damian settles for it though, he knows his family is just as bad as he is trying to express any emotion.

Damian knows that he is wise beyond his seventeen years, has seen and done things that most people wouldn’t even see in movies or even read about in books, he knows so much and so little at the same time. There are times that he wishes he knew what it would be like to live in a normal loving home, but he knows that is a fantasy, a far off dream.

Yet.

There was something in his life that he would consider normal: his love of his brothers.

Granted, the relationship he had with his three older brothers may not be considered the epitome of normal sibling relationships, but it's a type of normality that he can always count on in his daily life.

At this point in his life, he knows everyone thinks that Dick Grayson, the oldest of the four Robin brothers, is Damian’s favourite, and for a while that had been true. Though he knows that he should love them all equally and does to some degree, but he knows that everyone thinks that he’s got a massive soft spot for the oldest of them. 

It isn’t a crush, that small phase had passed long ago and it was apparently no secret between the three younger siblings that, at some point, everyone has a crush on Dick Grayson, and Damian supposed that to be true. Dick was always genuine with his positive emotions, the most charming of all the brothers.

Dick was always the affectionate, big brotherly, happy one. And, yes, Damian did know that Dick wasn’t always the happy ray of sunshine he always made himself out to be, but that was okay, because when it really came down to it, Damian always knew that Dick would love him, no matter how angry he got at times. Yet, that was something that scared him about Dick, Damian was never sure that he could always keep control of himself, that one day he would stumble upon a particularly sick criminal and he would snap and kill them, then he would see Dick’s disappointment and abandon him.

It wasn't always that either. 

It was true that sometimes Damian loved getting cuddles and spending time with his oldest brother but at the same time Damian found Dick’s affection to be suffocating, overbearing, and claustrophobic. Sometimes it was too much and Damian found himself wanting to claw at his own throat because his anxiety was so bad he couldn't  _ breathe _ . Sometimes it made Damian too uncomfortable and he wanted to just avoid Dick just so that he didn’t feel so claustrophobic. He knew that it wasn’t Dick’s fault, even knew it wasn’t his on some level. Dick had been brought up in a circus and there was really no concept of personal space, and his parents had been affectionate towards him but Damian’s upbringing was the exact opposite and he never knew of that kind of affection until he had met Dick.

One thing Damian always knew was that Dick loved him, no matter how suffocated he felt, and he knew that he would always love Dick. He knew that Dick only wanted what was best for him but sometimes it made Damian want to start screaming and not stop.

Then there was Jason. Second adopted brother, the dead-but-not-so-dead red sheep of the family and the very much stereotypical shithead of an other brother. 

It was really only Jason that knew how to wind Damian up to an absolute frenzy. It never took much, a few well placed words and maybe a nose flick or a hair ruffle and Damian would absolutely  _ lose his shit.  _ It would usually start with Jason antagonising Damian on a rooftop on patrol and would end up with them both beaten, bloody and exhausted. 

It was only in the past year or so that he truly learned about how much of a powerhouse Jason actually was. Damian learned that Jason usually held back when they fought, especially when Damian was younger. Damian was almost as tall as Jason now, though he doubts he will ever be as physically big as Jason. As it stands, Damian is somewhat lanky, all lean muscles, closer to Tim’s physique than Jason’s and he doubts he will fill out that much once he stops growing.

Yet, even with their arguing and physical fights, with Jason, he knows that he can express a certain amount of emotional weakness that he really can’t around the rest of their family. 

Sometimes, they stay together in one of Jason’s many safehouses, where Damian can curl up against his second oldest brother and just cry until he can’t anymore, because if there was anyone that understood, it was Jason. They’d both died and came back to life, they both had shitty childhood and both knew what it was like to be in the League of Assassins under Damian’s mothers thumb, and whether directly or indirectly they both knew how bad the Lazarus Pit could affect someone. Sometimes, when Jason held him for comfort, Damian could feel his hair grow wet with Jason’s tears too. They never acknowledged these moments outside of them, preferring to spit fire and throw punches at each other, and though he suspected that Tim knew what was happening, he still loved Jason, for the support, the secrecy of it, for the unending comfort he felt with their somewhat shared pasts and he knew that Jason loved him too.

Lastly, there was Timothy Drake, the older brother that he used to hate so much that he used to try and think up the best ways to win and kill the older. The thought of it turns his stomach now, the hatred he used to feel, his irrational want to kill him. 

There was a point where Damian had grown to accept Tim’s presence, respect his ability even, but still hated him, it wasn’t until a year and a half ago that his hatred for his older brother dissipated, and Damian had a newfound appreciation, respect and  _ love  _ for Tim.

_ The Incident  _ as Damian now liked to call it had happened when the Annual City Ending Disaster had took place. Damian barely remembered what actually happened, what he did remember was that Tim had actually died in his arms. It had been barely two minutes, they were in the back of the batmobile entering the cave, but it had happened and Damian was near hysterical with fear. He had held himself together, but barely. It was one moment that Jason and Damian both shared in absolute terror. That Tim would never make it.

Tim had saved Damian’s life that night, while Damian was trapped under rubble, broken femur, ribs and wrist. Tim had fought off the the gang of men that wanted to tear Robin to pieces while they waited for Batman to come. The fight was brutal and it was a miracle that Tim eventually recovered like he did.

It had changed Damian’s whole perspective.

They still had a battle of wits and skill every now and then but it was never as bad as it used to be. They often finished their fights laughing, winded and bruised. Damian also patrolled with Red Robin more often. Damian always enjoyed patrolling with him. It was strangely calming. He knew that Tim was always highly strung, walking a tightrope with anxiety and depression waiting for him to fall off, that Tim barely ever slept. Yet, he found Tim to be a very calming presence. Tim didn’t seem to need to fill their silence with chatter like Dick and Jason did. 

Damian found that Tim’s presence was peaceful and comforting in a strange way.

Damian honestly thought that Tim was probably his favourite brother in a way.

In fact, the comfort that both Tim and Jason provided for Damian was why he was currently in their home, curled up under the weighted comforter that Damian knew Jason had bought for Tim because of his anxieties. He was wearing one of Jason’s hoodies, knowing Tim’s would never fit him, curled around what had to be Tim’s pillow, watching nature documentaries on the laptop he’d found in the living room.

Damian didn’t know when he started this, came into his brothers apartment and surrounded himself in their smell, feeling the comfort of it surrounding him, but he had been doing it long enough. Tonight Jason and Tim are out on patrol, while Damian had the night off, he’d been doing this long enough to know when they would be coming home.

However, Damian must have been more comfortable and more tired than he expected because the next thing he knew he was hearing giggling and whispering. He was pretty sure the show he had been watching a documentary about sharks and was lulled to sleep by the soft sound of the presenters voice and the sounds of the ocean. The giggling was strange but he didn’t open his eyes, he was watching the documentary on YouTube and maybe the video had flipped to something else.

It wasn’t until he felt the bed shift and someone settle down behind him, brush his hair back from his forehead. Damian could smell Tim’s sweat and the night air.

“Hey, Lil’ Bird, What are you still doing here? You’re usually gone by now.” Tim was still petting his hair.

“Mmmr.” Was the only sound Damian made. He was still waking up, he heard Jason snicker in the distance and Tim let out a quite huff.

It wasn’t until Tim’s words sunk in that Damian felt the anxiety spike through his veins. He’d been caught and not only that, it appeared that he wasn’t as sneaky about this operation as he thought he was. 

Damian’s eyes shot open as he tried to sit up and explain why he was there, but he doubted there was any way to explain what he was doing there.

Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Tim said, pushing Damian back onto the bed. “It’s okay, just lie back down, we’ll talk in the morning.”

Damian huffed, trying to find an excuse to escape. “Don’t you and Jason want to… you know....” 

Tim snorted. “No, tonight was quiet, B sent us home.” Tim paused as Jason came out of the bathroom. “Listen, you stay there and I’m going to get a shower and change.”

Tim left the bed to shower while Jason moved around the room, moving the laptop onto the drawers.

“You stay there,” Jason said to him quietly, “I’m just gonna get some water and set up the coffee machine for the morning.”

With that, Jason left the room. 

Damian was dozing when he felt the bed in front of him shift and the pillow be taken away from him.

“Don’t worry, I’m just making it easier for all of us to lie down.” Tim said quietly.

Tim shifted everything around until he was happy with it and lay down on the bed, curling up against Damian’s front.

A few minutes later, Jason came into the room and got into bed with them, draping him over Tim’s back. Damian could hear the kiss that Jason pressed into the back of Tim’s head.

Damian, as confused as he was, settled into the bed. He would have to deal with the consequences in the morning, for now he would sleep.

It turned out the be the best night's sleep Damian ever had.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave me feedback?


End file.
